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Gettysburg to discuss parking fees, traffic study

By AMY STANSBURY

The Evening Sun

Posted:
04/05/2013 09:54:35 PM EDT

The Gettysburg Borough Council is gearing up to make some big traffic decisions at its Monday meeting. Council will vote on a final fee schedule for its parking garage and decide whether or not to contribute $12,000 toward a regional traffic study for the 150th.

The borough has been working with Gettysburg College on developing a new fee structure for the Race Horse Alley Parking Plaza for several months now in an effort to generate more revenue for the municipality.

Previous negotiations settled upon a new hourly fee of 75 cents for all users, excluding monthly cardholders. This hourly rate would have been extended to a maximum of $5 over a 12-hour period and a maximum of $10 over a 24-hour period. Under this plan, the borough expected to receive about $433,166 in parking revenue annually, $58,000 more than the borough budgeted for in 2013.

The new parking fee plan the council will discuss on Monday changes those numbers slightly. The hourly rate will remain at 75 cents and the daily maximum rate will remain at $10, but for users who spend less than 12 hours at the garage the hourly 75-cent rate up to $10. Once a user spends over 12 hours in the garage, the fee will remain at $10 until that user hits their 25th hour of use, at which point they will be charged at an hourly rate again.

This gives long-term parkers some kind of a discount, council member Jake Schindel said, which fulfills one of Gettysburg College's requests.

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The college owns the Gettysburg Hotel, whose guests use the garage.

If the council agrees to this arrangement, it will result in $44,000 less in revenue than the previous plan, but will still produce $14,000 more in revenue for the borough than is projected in the 2013 budget.

The finance committee will be recommending this new plan to the council on Monday, but approving it will not be council's only option. Council members will be forced to choose between the plan recommended by the finance committee and another that is supported by Gettysburg College. The second plan is almost identical to the first, except for the fact that it would establish a daily maximum rate of $9, instead of $10.

The college is pushing for the $9 rate in order to ensure its competitiveness in the region. A report issued earlier this year by the college showed that no other local parking garages charge more than $10.

The problem with the college's plan, however, is that it doesn't produce enough revenue for the borough, leaving the municipality $4,000 under expected revenue projections for 2013. Borough council will discuss the merits of both plans on Monday before making a final decision.

For Schindel, the decision already seems to be a no-brainer.

"We budgeted for an amount and we have to hit it," Schindel said. "We can deliberate all we want, but we still have to pay the bills."

The other important item that will be discussed at Monday's meeting is the regional traffic study for the Gettysburg Sesquicentennial. The study will cost $36,000 and will help to alleviate congestion on the roads and to make safe paths available for emergency responders during the summer event. Adams County and Cumberland Township have both already pitched in $12,000 toward the study and are requesting that Gettysburg do the same.

The finance committee reviewed the merits of the study at their meeting on Friday and agreed to recommend its approval to the entire council on Monday. If approved, the money will be transferred from the borough's roughly $1 million reserve fund, which is set aside for future road and equipment repairs. An anticipated extra boost of revenue coming into the borough this summer from pillow and amusement taxes could also help to offset the study's cost, said Borough Manager Florence Ford.

"This will benefit tourists, but it will also benefit taxpayers," Schindel added, pointing out that traffic during the summer is a disaster for everyone, residents and visitors alike. "It is mutually beneficial."